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Are police in America too militarized?

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Saturday August 23, 2014 6:55 AM

Americans have been transfixed for a week now by the protests in Ferguson, Mo., sparked when an
unarmed black man, Michael Brown, was shot and killed by a police officer.

Police, outfitted with camouflage, tear gas, crowd-dispersing noise-makers and armored vehicles,
have cracked down on rioters and looters, but also on journalists and crowds of apparently peaceful
protesters, angering observers around the world.

Have America’s police forces become over-militarized? How can justice be achieved in Ferguson?
Joel Mathis and Ben Boychuk, the RedBlueAmerica columnists, debate the issue.

JOEL MATHIS

For all our national polarization, here is one good thing to come out of the events in Ferguson:
Liberals and the libertarian right can use this moment to make common cause against the excesses of
policing in our country.

Conservatives have spent the past half-century automatically siding with police — sensing,
correctly, that most Americans were more concerned with cracking down on crime than in nuances of
civil liberties. But those days have receded. These days, conservatives are often likely to see
cops as just another set of tyranny-minded big-government bureaucrats.

Liberals aren’t driven by big-government concerns, but that doesn’t actually matter. If liberals
and like-minded conservatives come to their conclusions differently, we can still agree on a few
things:

They have even less need for mine-resistant vehicles of the style that were used to patrol the
streets of Baghdad.

And maybe, since the use of tear gas is actually a war crime when used by one army against
another, police shouldn’t so easily use such chemical weapons against civilian populations.

“When you couple this militarization of law enforcement with an erosion of civil liberties and
due process that allows the police to become judge and jury — national security letters, no-knock
searches, broad general warrants, pre-conviction forfeiture — we begin to have a very serious
problem on our hands,” Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican contender for president, said last week.

He’s right. So let’s use this moment to pull back: to stop outfitting American police forces
with military gear, to rein in law enforcement with a new respect for the rights of individuals,
and to ensure that citizens of Ferguson — and all Americans — can walk the streets safe in the
knowledge that police really are there to serve and protect all of us.

BEN BOYCHUK

Yes, far too many police departments have gone overboard with the military equipment. On that
point, liberals and conservatives should be in broad agreement.

The Ferguson police last week looked like soldiers, not cops — occupiers, not protectors. Using
armored vehicles for crowd control, as the police did in Ferguson before the Highway Patrol took
over, only reinforces an “us versus them” mentality.

But as worthwhile as it may be to discuss demilitarizing America’s police forces, it’s also
worth noting that Darren Wilson, the officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, wasn’t decked out
in camouflage when he confronted the young man and his friend. He was driving a patrol car, not an
armored personnel carrier. He shot Brown with his service weapon, a standard-issue 9 mm handgun,
nothing special.

In short, militarization is a symptom of a problem, but not necessarily what ails Ferguson or
other cities.

If it’s true that some police are overzealous or abusive — still a wide-open question in the
Brown shooting — then greater accountability is crucial.

It’s a shame Wilson wasn’t wearing a video camera. Cameras are controversial; police unions hate
them, calling them an “encumbrance.” But they may be effective in reining in excessive force and
abuse.

The Wall Street Journal recently highlighted the Rialto Police Department in Southern
California, where every officer is required to wear a body-mounted camera. One year after police
introduced the cameras, use of force by officers dropped by 60 percent and citizen complaints fell
an astounding 88 percent.

The kicker? According to
The Journal: “Police in Ferguson have a stock of body-worn cameras, but have yet to deploy
them to officers.” Cameras may not solve every problem, but the extra accountability could help
prevent the next conflagration.

Ben Boychuk is associate editor of the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal. Joel Mathis is
associate editor for Philadelphia Magazine.